Terms
by Ditzgirl123
Summary: Damon confronts Elena about Katherine poisoning him, and Elena proves she can fight back...to an extent anyway.


Title: Terms  
Pairing: Damon/Elena  
Rating: Pg-13 for some violence and language  
Summery: Written for the LJ

Disclaimer: Blah blah blah I don't own them, blah blah blah I'm making no money off this...You know the drill.

DarkShip prompt 'Drink up, baby'. Damon confronts Elena about Katherine poisoning him, and Elena proves she can fight back...to an extent anyway.

**Terms**

She watched him stalk across the room, like a lion barely contained and clearly pissed. He skipped his usual stop at the drink cart and paused in front of the fire instead.

"How long have you known?" He demanded, voice too even and stance too practiced to be casual.

"About what?" Elena asked from her position on the couch. She'd been sitting in their parlor for hours now, just waiting for Damon to return. She knew this conversation was coming.

"Don't play games Elena, how long has Katherine been poisoning me?" He spat out with his back still turned, the fire throwing shadows behind him.

"Two weeks is my guess. That's when we noticed it at least." She shifted uncomfortably. "We couldn't tell you because you would of stopped drinking those bags, and she would know. She would of done something more drastic to you." Her and Stefan had argued about it for hours the night they had discovered the vervain laced bags. They'd decided it was ultimately best not to tell Damon. At least yet.

"Stupid move Elena. You had to of known I'd figure it out eventually." He paced now, graceful steps covering up the obvious anger. "Such a small amount everyday…Clever, but I still noticed." He stop moving for a moment to just stand in front of her, making sure they locked eyes. "Hope you're aware this caused one of your little classmates to lose their lives."

Elena shot up to stand before him, "What are you talking about?"

"Well I was feeling a bit weaker than I liked so I checked the blood to see if it was off. Imagine my surprise when I saw the empty vervain syringe at the very bottom of the pile. Now that-that was careless on her end, she must have been rushed." He stopped to study her face, looking for something other than guilt. "Naturally I realized I needed a more secure feeding source. Add in a random girl, middle of the woods, and bam there's one less member of the Mystic Falls graduating class." He smirked, enjoying the look of outrage on her face.

"Damon you promised you wouldn't kill anymore-" She started, hands curled into fists at her side.

"Well you're the one who just stood around letting me be poisoned. Which is worse?" He countered with a raised eyebrow.

Elena jumped to her feet. "That's completely different. You were just weakened, but that was somebody's child you killed. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

"Nope, doesn't mean a thing to me." He casually shrugged his shoulders, stepping closer to her. "Don't you understand that Katherine was making sure that when the final battle comes, I'd be useless? Who was gonna save your ass then? It sure as hell isn't going to be your scrawny boyfriend."

"Maybe I don't need you to save me Damon, maybe I'll be fine on my own. She doesn't even seem to want me dead, or else she would've tried to kill me already." Her hands were flying around as she spoke, trying to make him understand her point. But she was fully aware that Damon only saw one side of everything, his.

"Bullshit-She's got some sort of plan for you, and I can guarantee she doesn't want to be your new BFF." He grabbed her arm but she spun around quickly drawing a silver cross out of her pocket. "Really?" He asked condescendingly. "You know that does nothing to us."

"No," She paused, toying with the piece of jewelry for a moment before pressing it against his throat. He roared in pain as his skin sizzled where the silver touched. "But it was mixed with vervain before it was cast. I'm not stupid Damon, I've learned a thing or two that you don't know about."

He pushed the hand holding the cross away, sending Elena tumbling to the ground in the process. She landed with a thud, painfully on her elbows. She scrambled to get up, but Damon was at her side in an instant, pressing her back down with a hand on her throat.

He leaned in close and whispered darkly "All that did, was piss me off." He saw her other hand move out of the corner of his eye and grabbed it, twisting until she dropped something with a cry of pain. Still holding her down by the throat, he picked up the vervain dart. "Well clearly you've been spending too much time with Alaric. That's gonna need to stop."

"Let me up Damon." Elena ground out angrily, yanking on his hands uselessly trying to free herself.

"No. Because I think you were trying to prove to me that you could handle Katherine. So far both attempts have failed, and you have a seriously pissed off vampire to deal with. How's it working out so far?" Elena tried to twist her body to reach for something but Damon beat her to it. He snaked a hand around her waist to pull at the stake nestled in the back of her pants.

"Clever," He said with a smile, then threw it across the room, right into the fireplace. "But now what?" He asked, applying more pressure on her throat, pleased that her heart rate sped up. "What will you do when you have no more fancy toys left?" She glared at him defiantly, unable to speak. "That's what I thought." With a final squeeze of her throat he released her and stood, walking towards the drink cart.

He wasn't prepared for Elena to rush up and jump on his back. With an annoyed roll of his eyes, he pulled her off him and tossed her across the room. She landed with a cry in a tumbled heap. He causally poured himself a scotch and turned to face her once more. "When will you realize just how fragile you are?" He took in her pained expression and the way she struggled to get back up. "You bleeding by the way-" He offered. "That's not a smart thing to do around a vampire." He watched as she brought a hand to her temple and pulled it away blood stained.

She crawled over to the wall and slouched against it. "I hate you so much Damon." She declared, voice slightly raspy.

"Hate me all you want princess, I'm still stronger than you. And I'm your best chance at survival." He downed his glass in one shot and tilted it towards her. "You want one? Would probably help with all that annoying pain you're feeling." He didn't wait for an answer before pouring her one as well. He crouched down to her level and offered the drink. She took it and started coughing at the first sip. "Psh, amateur." He mocked, throwing back his own drink. He noticed her favoring her left arm and reached out to prod at it. She recoiled from his touch with a hiss of pain. "Yeah, that's broken."

"Well you shouldn't of broken it Damon. What am I supposed to tell Stefan?" She complained. "He won't forgive you for hurting me." She started to press against her ribs, cringing when she reached a particularly sore spot.

"Well you started it. Shouldn't start things you can't finish." He took over the inspection of her ribs, moving her hands aside. He pressed firmly against the soft cotton of her sweater a few times, ignoring the way her eyes were watering at the contact. "And you have at least three broken ribs too." He sat back on his heels, appraising the way she looked, torn and bloody. "Do you understand now why you can't fight Katherine? There's no way for you to win." He helped her up, and leaned her against the wall.

"I'm not concerned with winning so much as doing things on my terms, Damon. You of all people should understand that." She leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. "If Katherine comes after me, I need to be able to defend myself, I can't count on Stefan and-" She opened her eyes to look at him honestly "And I know I can't count on you." She watched the flash of pain contort his face for a moment before his mask of indifference slid back on.

"Well I see your not pulling the verbal punches tonight, as well as the physical ones." He trailed a finger down the side of her face, to rest it at the pulse point of her neck. "Don't you think it's a bit dangerous to be so honest with me, while your so weak?" Her eyes shot open, watching him warily. "If Katherine were to come for you right now, you couldn't do more than breathe heavy at her…" He enjoyed the spark of a temper that was back in her eyes again.

"Whatever you're thinking of Damon, I swear I will-"

"Do nothing Elena. You are in no position to be making threats." He brought his head down to run his nose alone her neck, tickling the soft skin. "I must confess, seeing you like this-all bloody and broken…It's making me a little hungry." She made a distressed sound and tried to push him away with her good arm. He took that hand and pushed it above her head, holding it there, stretching just slightly enough to cause her ribs some discomfort.

He placed a cold kiss where her shoulder met her collarbone, and she shivered. He bit lightly with his blunt teeth and her breath hitched. "Damon stop." She ordered, though the words were a bit breathy.

"Or what?" He asked. "You'll hate me? Too late, you already played that card. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't drain you right now and save everyone the trouble of saving you. One reason, right now." He murmured against her neck.

"We used to be friends Damon, doesn't that count for something?" She asked, still trying to shrink back into the wall. She refused to be afraid of him, but that didn't mean her body didn't want to escape.

"We used to be a lot of things. Then you let me be poisoned. It kinda broke my trust." 'It kinda broke my heart' was left unsaid. "Anything else to stop me?"

She was quiet for a moment, and then she said "I can't give you what you're looking for Damon." The silence was deafening for a moment as she awaited his response, but she had nothing left to say.

"Well then, I guess you and Katherine aren't so different after all." She felt his vamp teeth come forth, and he pressed them lightly to her skin. "I just don't have a way to punish her." With that, he sunk his teeth into her slowly.

She expected pain, but all she felt was a burning where he ripped into her skin. She thought about screaming, but there was no one around to save her, so it was pointless. She felt him suck the blood out of her in long fluid strokes, much different than how she imagined. Instead of agonizing pain, it was more of a pulsing heat. She unconsciously arched her chest against him, gasping when the broken ribs made themselves known.

She realized that he was taking too much blood, and that she was too injured to stand this for very long. She tried to pull her good arm down, but he had wrapped his fingers around hers, and wasn't letting go. Her legs were starting to get shaky, and eventually they gave out. Damon followed her slide to the floor keeping himself attached to her neck, and himself intertwined in her body.

She must of blacked out for a moment, because the next thing she knew Damon was licking lightly at the wound. It was distracting her from the pain in her ribs and arm, but soon enough they made themselves known. Her head felt fuzzy but when Damon stopped licking and brought his wrist up to his mouth and bit, she understood immediately. "No-" She croaked out, feeling like she would pass out any moment. :"I won't Damon."

"You don't get a choice in this." He said softly, but with an undercurrent of steel in his voice. "It'll heal your body, and it'll make sure you'll come back if anything happens."

"You did this to turn me?" She asked incredulously.

"No, I did this to protect you. If Katherine wants you dead, you're dead. No matter how many fancy toys you have, or how many vampires stand in front of you, she will kill you. At least this way I can make sure you come back." He pressed his wrist against her mouth just as she opened it to speak. She tried to resist the first few drops that fell into her mouth, but eventually gave up and began to suck in earnest at his skin.

"That's right, drink up baby. We're doing things on my terms now."

Fin

A/N Thoughts? I'm a fan of bloody Elena, and threatening Damon. Put them together and *Whoosh* my brain gets all happy.


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